Poachers strip Zimbabwe of its most precious natural resources

South Africa is not the only country battling a plague of poachers intent on wiping out the country’s rhino population. Over the past five years, Zimbabwe has reportedly lost 90% of its wildlife to poachers in search of ivory and pelts. Of great concern is that while South African tourism and wildlife authorities are trying to come up with ways to prevent poaching and catch the perpetrators, Zimbabwean officials seem content to close their eyes and pretend the problem doesn’t exist.

Johnny Rodrigues, chairman of the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force (ZCTF), a non-profit conversation organisation, says that the country’s environment ministry is aware that most of its wildlife has been wiped out and that is why it is reluctant to conduct an audit to determine exact numbers. Even though it doesn’t appear to be necessary, poachers are becoming increasingly cunning in their tactics, not to mention ruthless. Recent reports alleged that poachers have taken to poisoning elephants to get their tusks. Now it seems that poachers have also taken to poisoning the vultures that come to feed on the kills because they give away their positions. They poison the dead animals with DDT to contaminate the meat and reduce the number of vultures that circle and attract the attention of authorities. Unfortunately, there are also reports that the police work hand-in-hand with poachers for their share of the poaching revenue. At the very least police officers receive kick-backs for looking the other way.
This mirrors some incidents in South Africa where game rangers and even a vet were found to be working with rhino poachers.

According to the ZCTF, it’s essential that the government enacts legislation that provides for stricter punishment for anyone caught poaching. Proper funding is also necessary to police game reserves and place preventative measures in place to stem the wholesale massacre of one of the country’s most precious and dwindling resources: its animals.